Demon Lovers and Other Difficulties, by Nicole Kornher-Stace

[seajules]

Despite the post office's determination that I should not have this volume, the Goblin Queen of the North entrusted a copy to Our Fearless Leader, who passed it on to me. So here I sit, with elusive thing in hand, and I will tell you what I think of it.

Comments

[asakiyume]

the reader can come to view the poems as separate scenes of one story, separate aspects of the moods and thoughts of one bewitched family, the girl who seeks true love with a creature whose nature is trickery, that creature himself unexpectedly more influenced by his mortal lover than he could ever have predicted, and their uneasy child, working to reconcile his own dual nature and fit the scraps he has of his parents' story into some coherent narrative. If what he seeks is dream-logic, he manages to succeed, but love itself has a tendency to defy waking rationality, and on that front he will always be doomed.

This is a wonderful statement of the give and take of love, and its strangeness, and of the strangeness of parenthood and childhood--which I bet, even if Nicole didn't set out to do it consciously, is something that's definitely there in the poems.

[wirewalking]

even if Nicole didn't set out to do it consciously

What can I say, the Changeling sort of provides his own material. As for the demon lover ones, well, that's a longer story. Which also provides its own material!

[asakiyume]

Totally, totally understood!

[wirewalking]

Reeeeeally.

*intrigued*

[tithenai]

Hoooray!!! What a lovely thing to wake up to! Thank you so much for this, Jules.

About your handbag: I giggled, because it does, of course, fit into my handbag (I'd gotten used to carrying several copies at a time, to produce with a flourish if anything tangential came up -- "Oh, you're having Difficulties? WELL, perhaps I could interest you in THIS!" okay, not really), but I can't carry handbags that hold less than a hardcover, so they lean more towards the shape of small messenger bags. Duly noted for the future, though.

As to a recording of the chapbook -- O for the missed opportunities at Readercon! But you've given me a lovely idea, for which I thank you more. Now if I could just unsteeple my fingers...

[wirewalking]

I fit my bags around my books, too, and not the other way aroun-- hey. In whose direction are you steepling those fingers, pray?

[seajules]

About your handbag: I giggled, because it does, of course, fit into my handbag

Last summer, I had to permanently surrender my medium-sized messenger bag as part of my physical therapy. What I carry now is essentially a miniaturized messenger bag, and I am forbidden from carrying anything larger except when hauling my laptop from building to car to building (which carrying time should not exceed ten minutes at a stretch, and which laptop, with accessories, had better not weigh over five pounds). I don't think a lot of us who are fond of schlepping quantities of books around consider selecting bag size for optimal schlepping to be a luxury, but it really is, and it's one I can no longer pretend to have. Now, I have to match the book to the bag, or I can't take the book with me.

As to a recording of the chapbook -- O for the missed opportunities at Readercon! But you've given me a lovely idea, for which I thank you more.

Hooray! I do like giving people lovely ideas. *G*

[wirewalking]

I love your reviews of my stuff. It reassures me that what I set out to do actually does sometimes stick the landing from my head to the page. <3

[seajules]

I love reviewing your stuff, so I'd say it's a mutually beneficial arrangement. *G*

[sheerpoetry]

Thank you so much for sharing this lovely review!
This was my first chapbook purchase and I absolutely adored it. You've made some wonderful and interesting comments and I'll have to go back for (another) re-read!

[seajules]

Thank you for letting me know you enjoyed the review! And what a wonderful note on which to start chapbook-purchasing.